Exposed Sheeting

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rutger1413

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First of all I would like to say hi because I am new here. I worked construction with my dad for about 6 years till i went to college and decided that I didn’t like making other ppls houses nice anymore. So I do have a half decent amount of experience.

Anyway....

I am looking into buying a house for taxes that is less than 6 years old. It is almost finished inside but not complete. I talked to neighbors in the area and they said that the house sat for 1-2 years without siding. It currently has siding, but I am not able to go up to it and rip siding off to see what the sheeting is like underneath. My question is do you think the sheeting will be rotted or anything else wrong with it? If you have any experience in dealing with this please let me know. Thanks!!
 
It depends upon a lot of factors. What was the sheathing material? Where is the home located, that is, what is the climate like? Rain? Snow? Arid?

What is the siding material? Can you see any of the sheathing from the inside? If the sheathing was completely dry before the vapor wrap was put on and before the siding was applied the chances are good that the sheathing has survived the abuse. I would also question other items that were installed before the building was weather tight, such as electrical, insulation, plumbing, etc.
 
The area is east of Pittsburgh. so we have cold winters, moderetly wet spring, 80 degree summers with moderate rain fall.

No i cannot see the sheething from the inside. I am unsure if vapor wrap was applied. From what the neighbors have said it was just normal ply wood. also belive there was nothing else done to the inside such as electrical and such before the siding was applied.

I may be able to check the bottom pieve under the siding the see what it is like. anything i should look for other than the sheething falling apart, rotten swelled etc.

Thanks
 
This is tough, you will never be able to see all the areas. Look at the bottom of the sheathing where it meets the foundation and see if it is delaminated and how bad.
This just gives you a small snapshot of any areas above it that had a lot of water in the area.
Next look for any bulges in the siding or any spongy areas.
Look at any wall to roof transitions and look for settlement of the building, without a barrier on the outside chances are water went behind flashing at the roofline.
This is a long process and will not tell you everything but it gives you a start.

There really is not much you can see at this point..Hopefully it had some drying out going on.:D

The issue will be if it ever gets wet again...presto-moldo....and fast.
 
Pennsylvania only recently enacted a statewide building code, so it is safe to presume that anything done to this house prior to September 2004 has not been done to minimum standards.

That said, you should only buy this house going into it with eyes wide open and with the position that everything would need to be gutted and started over.

I would assume the worst and plan for it.

For the tax upset price, you may get a 'shell' and nothing more.

Everything else would likely need to be upgraded to make it habitable.

Good Luck.
 
Hi Ruter:
This all depends on what you're buying the house for. If it is for a fixer-uper and reseller you simply need to look down the walls and see if there are any bumps and bulges. If there aren't any you can say it has sheathing and forget about it. If its a keeper you should take a closer look.
Glenn
 
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